following the interview opera tweeted, just wrapped with lance armstrong. he came ready. last year he was stripped of his seven tour titles and banned for life following a report from the u.s. anti-doping agency, a report that labeled armstrong as the mastermind of a, quote, systematic, sustained and highly professionalized team-run doping conspiracy. nbc news has learned that in a conversation the 41-year-old armstrong said, quote, it was just the way the game was played at the time, so it was a level playing field. before he interviewed with oprah, armstrong visited the headquarters of the cancer foundation he founded. there he told the livestrong staff, quote, i'm sorry, and apologized for letting them down. but did not give them a full admission. >> people at livestrong have been pressuring him for a little while now to minimize this damage. >> reporter: damage years of lying and cheating has done to an organization and to the legacy of a sports icon. kurt gregory, nbc news. >>> so what about the potential legal and financial fallout ahead for the athlete worth an est